The present invention relates to data processing by digital computer, and more particularly to user interfaced modeling of web services and batch input templates.
An internet is a group of networks and individual computers communicating using a common protocol. The Internet is a world-wide “network of networks” that use the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) protocol suite for communications. TCP/IP is a set of protocols and programs used to interconnect computer networks and to route traffic among different types of computers. These protocols describe allowable data formats, error handling, message passing, and communication standards.
Many organizations are in the process of connecting to the Internet to take advantage of Internet services and resources. Businesses and agencies are now using the Internet or considering Internet access for a variety of purposes, including exchanging e-mail, distributing agency information to the public, and conducting research. Many organizations are connecting their existing internal local area networks to the Internet so that local area network workstations can have direct access to Internet services.
One issue that has arisen regarding using the Internet for business is how to build suitable interfaces into business software systems for automated data input on demand. A company may want to optimize their business processes by allowing its business partners to access the business software systems of the company over the Internet. For example, a company may want to enable its business partners to have the capability to create sales orders directly in the company's business systems. Generally, the IT departments of the companies have to implement customized back-end functionality to make this arrangement possible. These types of solutions are tailored to the specific computer configurations of the companies involved; there is no standard way to enable more companies to join in; and there is no standard way to allow for corrections to the data if the business partners make errors when entering data into the business software systems.